Chair of the Association
Lydia Brown MBE FRCVS PhD MBA BVSc 1978
Lydia is a local girl and had a wonderful social life at Liverpool vet school as well as managing to scrape through finals.
She has spent most of her career as a fish vet either working on farms, in contract research, universities or in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry around the world. She has been a President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and has also chaired many veterinary organisations such as the Veterinary Benevolent Fund, now VetLife; the Humane Slaughter Association and the University Federation of Animal Welfare, to name but a few. She now lives in Wiltshire and also has a base in the North Pennines.
Treasurer
Tony Collins MRCVS BVSc 1979
Tony qualified from Liverpool in 1979, whilst serving time at Liverpool he enjoyed the honour of being President of LUVS and then President of AVS. On graduation, he became part of a large mixed practice in South Yorkshire; "a great first job but an eye opener for a simple London boy". His journey took him via Weymouth, Sonning Common and the Berkshire College of Agriculture. He is now retired from practice but keeps himself busy performing locums for the Horse Trust, supporting the equine department of his old practice and providing veterinary cover at several Greyhound tracks. In his limited spare time, Tony enjoys open water swimming and participating in a small number of Triathlons, generally in warmer climates such as St Kitts. He is also involved with carriage driving, which has seen him travel to France, Germany and Hungary in recent years, with a trip to Sweden on the Horizon.
Communications Officer
Christina Ratcliffe BVSc 2020
As a student, Christina was involved with running two BSAVA student congresses held at Leahurst, the ECC society and was president of the University of Liverpool Salsa Society. Since graduating, she has worked in small animal practice and has enjoyed "passing the baton" to future members of our profession, talking at a LUVS career fair, school events and hosting vet students seeing practice in Berkshire.
Social Media Officer
Currently vacant. Click here for more information about this role.
Events Officer
Professor John Innes MRCVS BVSc 1991
John was LUVS president in 1989/90 and played for the Vets football team from 1986 – 1990; he also enjoyed playing against them in staff-student matches when he returned to Liverpool as Professor of Small Animal Studies from 2001 – 2013. After leaving Leahurst in 2013, John spent 9 years on the executive team of a large corporate group, latterly as chief veterinary officer. In May 2023 he co-founded Movement Referrals, an independent specialist practice in Cheshire offering small animal neurology and orthopaedics referral services. John is an honorary professor at University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science. John was awarded Fellowship of RCVS in 2016 for ‘meritorious contributions to knowledge’ and he received both the Simon Award (2005) and Blaine Award (2023) from BSAVA. John lives with his family in Wirral and plays football with some Leahurst staff every Monday evening. @johnfinnes
Committee Members without portfolio
Dr Nicola Beesley MRCVS BVSc MSc 2009 PhD 2016
Nicola came to Liverpool when she was 18 and still lives in Neston! After a brief spell in practice after graduating, she returned to the University to complete a PhD in Veterinary Parasitology. She then worked at the University as a postdoctoral researcher for several years, before moving to the University of Chester as a lecturer in Bioveterinary Science. She is a long-standing member of the alumni committee and enjoys speaking with the current students about their experiences at vet school. Her favourite place while studying at Liverpool was The Raz and she also played for the Ladies Football Team.
Peter Jones MRCVS BVSc 1971
Peter graduated from the University of Liverpool in July 1971. After several years in general veterinary practice in the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada, he joined the pharmaceutical industry in the animal health sector and has held a number of senior appointments in research and regulatory affairs in multinational companies, working both in Europe and in the United States. In 1995 he joined the European Commission’s Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and was appointed Head of the Unit for Veterinary Medicines and Inspections. After ten years at the EMEA, Peter was appointed Executive Director of the Global International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH) in October 2005, based in Brussels. He was elected President of the British Veterinary Association in 2012. He and his husband Michael returned to live in Criccieth several years ago and he was declared the High Sheriff of Gwynedd in 2015 and is now a Deputy Liutenant of Gwynedd. He is a trustee of GISDA a charity set up to assist homeless teenagers in Caernarfon and the North Wales Police Action and Community Trust (PACT) and now volunteers to support local charities in Gwynedd.
Jess Murray-Keane MRCVS BVSc 2008
Jess graduated from Liverpool in 2008 and ran the bar at Leahurst during her time there. After a brief spell in mixed practice back home in Ireland she returned to England the following year. Jess has had permanent and Locum roles all over the North West and has worked in corporate, independent and charity companion animal practices. After spending a year in a non clinical role in 2022, Jess has recently returned to clinical practice having rekindled her love for working as a GP.
Sally Stockton MRCVS BVSc 1985 CertAVP PGCertVBM
Sally qualified in 1985, in a year group of 15 women out of 50. She enjoyed the eighties Liverpool night life before the quieter final year at Leahurst, but was lucky enough to have a room upstairs in Leahurst House. She married within the year group and fits small animal practice in around family life. She is also an Assessor for the new RCVS Practice Standards Scheme.
Ben Sweeney MRCVS BVSc 2008
Ben is a 2008 Liverpool graduate. After 5 years in equine practice and achieving his CertAVP, Ben decided to pivot to companion animal practice where he has remained since 2013. He is a huge advocate for digital enablement in the veterinary profession and has founded two digital start ups since 2016. Away from work, Ben has a wife who is a paediatric cardiologist, two young children and a fox red labrador called Oakley, who accompanies him on many of his outdoor excursions while training for long distance triathlons.
.png)
James Taylor BVSc (Hons) 2019
James worked in small animal first opinion practice for two and a half years in South Wales during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has since made a lateral move into a mentoring position helping aspiring students with the application process into veterinary medicine and encouraging widening access within the profession. He also assumed the role of BVA Wales regional representative in February 2023 and has enjoyed playing an active role in veterinary decision making as well as networking with people from all areas of the veterinary world.
Head of School: Professor Paul Lunn
Secretary: Jennifer Hughes
Academic Representative: P-J Noble
President of LUVS: Anna Maxwell and Tom Fearnley
Vice-President of LUVS (Leahurst): Kate Saunders
Vice-President of LUVS (Liverpool): Anna Warner
Alumni Relations Representative: Chantel Baldry (Volunteer Engagement Manager) and Victoria Gilmore (Volunteer Engagement Officer)
Back to: Alumni